A Week of (mostly) Health

Fun Fact: Did you know that 5:10pm in Abu Dhabi is 8:10am in Kentucky? Does that mean that I can drink while I watch this live F1 race? It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, amirite?


It’s been a whole week! (Yeah, I stopped doing the day numbers in the titles so I had to count. That’s going to get really confusing.)

A week in review:

  • I have acquired a Body Fat percentage scale (thanks Black Friday Amazon deals) so I will update all my numeric data next week sometime. Maybe on day 10, that’s a nice round number.
  • I think my body is now used to waking up early. It’s certainly not happy about it, but it’s used to it for the most part. I woke up naturally at 7am the other day. I mean, I went back to bed because I didn’t have to work that day, but I did wake up for a few minutes! I’d count that.
  • I’m in the routine of blogging every day! Woo!

I’ve worked out 4 of the past 6 days, eaten healthy 3 of the past 6 days (it was Thanksgiving, I have no regrets), and blogged every day! I think that’s a pretty good start.

*brushes off shoulder dramatically*

I’m feeling good about this. I’m feeling strong and committed.

Also, just so you all know, this website / blog won’t be entirely about health and weight loss. Fitness and health happens to be what I’m dabbling in right now and I can’t think about anything else.

This is what I’m talking about when I say I jump into the deep end with things; heath has consumed my life for the past couple months.

That novel I am writing? Nah, I gotta go to the gym.

Getting back to charcoal drawing? Nope, need to scour pinterest for healthy recipes.

Picking up my violin? I’ll do it later.

Gaming? Back burner.

I’m not proud of this quality. I’m trying to get better, which is part of the reason I started this blog. It wasn’t really intended for an audience (though I greatly appreciate anyone who gives a hoot about my daily ramblings), but it was a quick and dirty way to get my brain to do something besides obsess over my current obsession. I think it’s working! Finger’s crossed.

Okay, I’m going to watch this race now. Does anyone else watch Formula 1? Go Ricciardo! Woo!

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Lola’s body is far from used to waking up early. 

Jump to Recipe (Don’t click this, it’s the title)

Do you all wanna see what I had for dinner last night?!

Please don’t tell the blog police, I think I’m about to break like 9 blog laws because I’m about to give you a recipe without a super long, unnecessary anecdote that everyone would “jump to recipe” from anyway.

So, I don’t take credit for this, I took inspiration from Remi Cruz on YouTube. She’s fantastic and possibly my spirit animal. But I took her meal and made it about 80% more simple. I wouldn’t even call it a “recipe” it’s just a meal.


Okay, get yourself the following things:

  • A frozen bag of any vegetable
  • A frozen turkey patty
  • Some fresh spinach
  • Some seasoning
  • Sriracha (optional, but delicious)
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See above needless photo of ingredients; maybe they’ll let me off with a warning now.

Now…

  1. …throw your frozen veggies in the microwave to cook, I used butternut squash last night.
  2. While that’s microwaving, cook your turkey patty until it’s thawed enough to start aggressively chopping it into crumbles with a flat wooden spatula.
    • Oh, and throw some spices in there too. Life-Hack: Just use Italian seasoning for anything that you don’t know how to season, especially if you’re going to put sauce on top of it anyway.
  3. By now your veggies should be done, so take them out of the microwave and throw them directly in the skillet with the turkey crumbles. Cook that a while longer to dry out the veggies.
  4. Then make sure your turkey patty is pretty much cooked and throw in a handful of spinach (I recommend ripping it up with your hands so it doesn’t get stringy).
  5. Immediately turn off the heat and put a lid on the skillet, but leave it on the burner while you get your plate and stuff ready.
  6. Once the spinach is wilted, stir it all together again, plate it up, throw the sriracha on top, ta-da!

Bonus Tip:

Remi made a sauce in one of her vlogs and it changed my life. So if you’re feeling frisky, mix together some sriracha, dijon mustard, and soy sauce and throw that on top instead of the regular sriracha. Don’t ask me measurements of those, she said it so off-handedly and I tried it and it worked and it’s the second best sauce I’ve ever tasted in my life. Idk.


See?! Eating healthy isn’t so bad.

(Which is what I said to myself earlier in the day yesterday as I was staring down my husband’s Thanksgiving leftovers from across the table with my kale salad and deviled eggs. *whine*)

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If anyone knows how to make food photography NOT look like the same brown mush in every photo, hit me up.

Black Friday Salad

Good morning, internet! Anyone else in a food coma?

Thanksgiving was uneventful in the Johnson-Hollon corner of the world, which is the most wonderful thing it could have been. I am the only one who feels like nothing is ever truly “uneventful” anymore? Maybe that’s just part of adulting? I don’t know.

Anyway, I have a very important goal for myself today and I’m not looking forward to it whatsoever. I’ve got to get back on track with my diet.

*whine*

My mother-in-law lost over 100lbs a couple years back and anytime someone asks her how she did it she tells them “when you get off track, which you will or you’ll drive yourself insane, get right back on it the next day.” It works, folks. I’ve tried exactly that and it’s really the best tip I can give you.

Here’s some elaboration that you didn’t ask for:

Accept that you didn’t do the thing, but don’t give yourself an out to keep doing it. “But it’s Thanksgiving…. But it Black Friday…. But it’s the week after Thanksgiving… But it’s almost Christmas… I might as well wait until the new year…”
Don’t fall into that trap! Stop having the “but I already screwed it up” pity party! (No one wants to go to that anyway, there are much better parties to attend.) There are 33 days until the new year! You can make so much progress in 33 days, even if it’s progress in forming a habit of being healthy.

Do a little something extra for yourself that isn’t related to the goal that you fell off of that day. Whatever the reason or cause, you decided to have a not-so-healthy meal. Maybe it was a family holiday like yesterday, or maybe it was because you’re stressed or getting burnt out. Do something that relaxes you, or invite some friends over and play a board game, or go to the mall and try on some really nice dresses that you don’t have any need for but are still fun to try on. Don’t feel guilty for making a decision, but recognize that something was different and treat yourself a little nicer in that moment, and then decide to do better next time.

Also, and this is the most important, don’t overcompensate! Don’t kill yourself at the gym or eat only a rice cake the next day. Go back to your normal routine that you set to reach your goals. If you’ve already fallen off the wagon why on Earth would you try to make it harder for yourself to get back on track? It’s hard enough to choose chicken breast and vegetables over mozzarella sticks and curly fries on a strong day, I’m certainly not going to choose a rice cake on a weak day.

Blogging for the past five days in a row has made me realize that adults are just assholes to themselves, aren’t they? It’s a good thing I choose to be an adult only a couple days a week.

This is a very discombobulated blog, my bad.
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Papa didn’t raise me to forget my poker glasses.